884 Chapter 30
where the peasants could be the true revolutionaries. He argued his point passion-
ately in 1927:PRIMARY SOURCE
The force of the peasantry is like that of the raging winds and driving rain. It is rapidly
increasing in violence. No force can stand in its way. The peasantry will tear apart all
nets which bind it and hasten along the road to liberation. They will bury beneath them
all forces of imperialism, militarism, corrupt officialdom, village bosses and evil gentry.
MAO ZEDONG,quoted in Chinese Communism and the Rise of MaoLenin Befriends ChinaWhile the Chinese Communist Party was forming, Sun
Yixian and his Nationalist Party set up a government in south China. Like the
Communists, Sun became disillusioned with the Western democracies that refused to
support his struggling government. Sun decided to ally the Kuomintang with the
newly formed Communist Party. He hoped to unite all the revolutionary groups for
common action.
Lenin seized the opportunity to help China’s Nationalist government. In 1923,
he sent military advisers and equipment to the Nationalists in return for allowing
the Chinese Communists to join the Kuomintang.Peasants Align with the Communists After Sun Yixian died in 1925, Jiang Jieshi
(jee•ahng jee•shee), formerly called Chiang Kai-shek, headed the Kuomintang. Jiang
was the son of a middle-class merchant. Many of Jiang’s followers were bankers and
businesspeople. Like Jiang, they feared the Communists’ goal of creating a socialist
economy modeled after the Soviet Union’s.
Jiang had promised democracy and political rights to all Chinese. Yet his gov-
ernment became steadily less democratic and more corrupt. Most peasants
believed that Jiang was doing little to improve their lives. As a result, many peas-
ants threw their support to the Chinese Communist Party. To enlist the support of
the peasants, Mao divided land that the Communists won among the local farmers.Nationalists and Communists ClashAt first, Jiang put aside his differences with
the Communists. Together Jiang’s Nationalist forces and the Communists success-
fully fought the warlords. Soon afterward, though, he turned against the Communists.
In April 1927, Nationalist troops and armed gangs moved into Shanghai. They
killed many Communist leaders and trade union members in the city streets.
Similar killings took place in other cities. The Nationalists nearly wiped out the
Chinese Communist Party.
In 1928, Jiang became president of the Nationalist Republic of China. Great
Britain and the United States both formally recognized the new government.
Because of the slaughter of Communists at Shanghai, the Soviet Union did not.
Jiang’s treachery also had long-term effects. The Communists’ deep-seated rage
over the massacre erupted in a civil war that would last until 1949.Civil War Rages in China
By 1930, Nationalists and Communists were fighting a bloody civil war. Mao and
other Communist leaders established themselves in the hills of south-central
China. Mao referred to this tactic of taking his revolution to the countryside as
“swimming in the peasant sea.” He recruited the peasants to join his Red Army. He
then trained them in guerrilla warfare. Nationalists attacked the Communists
repeatedly but failed to drive them out.The Long MarchIn 1933, Jiang gathered an army of at least 700,000 men. Jiang’s
army then surrounded the Communists’ mountain stronghold. Outnumbered, theAnalyzing
Primary Sources
What forces
does Mao identify
as those that the
peasants will
overcome?▲Jiang Jieshi and
the Nationalist
forces united China
under one govern-
ment in 1928.